The present invention is in the field of radar detection devices and pertains more particularly to methods and apparatus for providing and integrating multi-sensor capability into a radar detection platform and apparatus.
One of the most popular electronic early-warning devices available to motorists is the radar-detection device. A radar-detection device senses radar signals emitted by radar guns used by various law-enforcement agencies to sense and gage the speed of passing motor vehicles. The range of a typical radar-sensing device exceeds that of most radar guns, thus providing an early warning to motorists of the radar presence. This gives a speeding motorist typically ample time to slow a vehicle before entering the range of a radar site.
Aside from radar detection, there are a variety of other sensing technologies that may be used to provide a motorist with information that relates to safety in operating a vehicle, or other warning data of impending hazards or conditions which may affect the immediate roadway or a stretch of roadway some distance ahead of the motorist.
While many types of vehicle sensors have been developed, they are available in the art in a somewhat limited fashion. The systems are generally singular in the technologies used and in implementation parameters. That is to say that most vehicular sensing systems are standalone systems such as a radar proximity-sensing system that is implemented separately from other types of systems such as, perhaps, a compass navigational system. Therefore, a motorist that whishes to benefit by virtue of having his or her vehicle equipped with multi-sensing capability must do so at considerable expense, purchasing and installing plural devices.
What is clearly needed is a method and apparatus for integrating various sensor capabilities into one unit thereby providing a platform 10 capable of supporting the various technologies. Such a system would be less expensive to deploy, and more convenient to operate than multiple separate systems.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention a detection and reporting system for a vehicle is provided, comprising one or both of a radar and a laser detector for sensing radar or laser signals directed on the vehicle to track vehicle speed; one or more environmental sensors mounted on or in the vehicle for sensing environmental characteristics; a microcontroller for managing system functions; an electronic memory for storing data, algorithms, and operating routines; and a display for reporting system results to a user. The system monitors input from one or both of the radar and laser detector and from at least one environmental sensor, and uses the input in conjunction with system control routines to provide reports to the user via the display.
In alternative embodiments of the invention the one or more environmental sensors include sensors for one or more of inside temperature, outside temperature, acceleration/deceleration, wind velocity, wind direction, air pressure, humidity, or the Earth""s magnetic field. There is also, in a preferred embodiment a magnetometer for sensing the Earth""s magnetic field, and the system comprises circuitry and software enabling the microprocessor to cause to be displayed on the display at the user""s choice, vehicle compass direction derived from readings from the magnetometer as well as detection of either radar or laser signals directed onto the vehicle.
Also in preferred embodiments there is an interactive user interface enabling the user to at least select alternative functions for the system. There may also be an RF receiver enabled to receive and decode data transmitted from extra-vehicular sources, which may be one or more roadside RF transmitters transmitting data and messages to the RF receiver in the vehicle. The messages transmitted by roadside transmitters may include data on road characteristics to be soon encountered by the vehicle, such as curve characteristics for the roadway and incline characteristics for the roadway.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention the user is a driver of the vehicle, and the system further comprises an audio system and doze-alert software executed in the background at times the vehicle is in motion, the system, via the doze-alert software, gathering sensor data and processing same, and comparing with stored data to make a determination as to the driver""s state of awareness, and, in the event of determining the may doze or is dozing, sounding an audible warning alert to the driver. The doze-alert software in one embodiment operates on an escalating scheme, wherein separate determinations are made based on sensor inputs as to a level of danger, and separate alerts are made, each one more urgent than the last as determined danger increases.
In another aspect of the invention a method for alerting a driver of a vehicle to impending danger occasioned by the driver""s level of awareness is provided, comprising steps of (a) determining vehicle characteristics that evidence lack of driver awareness; (b) providing sensors in the vehicle enabled to monitor the vehicle characteristics; (c) programming an electronic warning system to store characteristics as a standard that indicates lack of awareness, and to compare real-time characteristics to the stored standard; and (d) comparing real-time vehicle characteristics with the stored standard and sounding an alert for the driver if a match is found. In one embodiment in step (b) patterns of movement of the vehicle""s steering mechanisms are monitored, and in step (c) real-time movement of steering mechanisms are compared with the standard. The program in other embodiments may store plural standards indicating different levels of awareness, and in step (d) escalating alerts are sounded.
In the various embodiments of the invention, several of which are taught in enabling detail below, for the first time a combination instrument is provided combining the well-known functions of a radar detector or a laser detector with other sensors, with the instrument programmed to use sensed and received information to provide a broad range of functions beyond simple radar or laser detection.